


Blue Drop: Remnants of the Great War

by NefariousDreams



Category: Blue Drop (Anime), RWBY
Genre: Alien Biology, Alien Culture, Alien Invasion, Alien Sex, Alien Technology, Aliens, Alternate Universe - Dystopia, Anxiety, Crossover, Cruelty, Dystopia, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Enemies to Lovers, Everyone Needs A Hug, Everyone's a little broken, F/F, Friends to Lovers, Hurt/Comfort, Induced Gender and Body Dysphoria, Lesbian aliens, Manipulation, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Panic Attacks, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Science Babies, Slavery, Weiss is an alien, alien war, forced sex change, messed up stuff, so are all the Schnees, some people are going to hate me for this
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-04
Updated: 2020-01-03
Packaged: 2021-01-21 08:16:22
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 10,194
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21296357
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NefariousDreams/pseuds/NefariousDreams
Summary: Humanity has been defeated. The Great War is over. Two decades have passed since Remnant had to accept the truce that would cripple society as they knew it. The price of their war crimes did not leave them a lot of room for choice. It was either be exterminated or give in to their new alien rulers' demands. Human rights were sacrificed, practices previously unheard of were forced upon them. Things are pretty bad.In hindsight, their struggle against the Arume, a species made up entirely of humanoid women, had been pointless. Their enemy, "femina aliens sapiens", opposed to the "homo sapiens sapiens" representing humans, was superior in every aspect: technologically advanced, intellectually gifted, and infamously apathetic. Their lack of fear at the prospect of death had granted them the title of maniacal terrorists. It wasn't a secret, how they'd deployed biologically engineered clones to blow themselves up as weapons of mass destruction. The psychopathy displayed by some of the Arume had been the main reason the Great War had lasted less than a year. The losses during said year had been enormous, hence, the name of the war.Mankind's fate lies in Retribution's hands. A ray of hope in the ever-present darkness.
Relationships: Blake Belladonna/Yang Xiao Long, Jaune Arc/Pyrrha Nikos, Ruby Rose/Weiss Schnee
Comments: 8
Kudos: 37





	1. On The Run

**Author's Note:**

> So, my wonderful ADHD brain came up with this a while ago. It's an AU set in a dystopian Remnant, crossed over with the war and lore of Blue Drop (a manga that never became very popular, with interesting themes and insight into what it means to be human, a man or a woman).
> 
> Since the Blue Drop universe itself is very messed up (bearer of questionable morals and controversial topics), expect this fanfic to contain a lot of nasty, upsetting content. Reader's discretion advised.
> 
> And just to make things clear: I have absolutely nothing against men (I'm not a rampaging femi-nazi or a man-hating lesbian). This is just how the Blue Drop universe was written to be. In short, please consider reading several chapters before actually commenting negatively.
> 
> For reference, here is the Blue Drop lore I integrated for this chapter: https://dynasty-scans.com/chapters/blue_drop_ch05#3

  
  
  
  
\--- Ruby's POV ---  
  
It all started with angels. Beautiful angels with white hair and blue eyes falling out of the sky. Their ships were so colorful, seemingly designed to fit in with the stars and celestial bodies.  
  
They seemed so peaceful, smiling, as they floated in the air. There were thousands of them, slowly descending towards the city.  
  
Only when the first explosion occurred, did it sink in: that something was off. That these weren't angels. That we were at **_war_**.  
  
An alarm blared loudly in the distance, spreading across the city like wildfire. Its frequency was grating, a cacophony of long, drawn-out ups and downs, with no intervals in between.  
  
Dad yelled at me to get inside, but my legs were frozen in place. I just couldn't believe what I was seeing... each and every one of those girls was a ticking time bomb. The moment they landed on the ground, on buildings, on power plants or whatever they chose to target, they would blow up. The explosions weren't small either... Mushroom clouds would rise from where they made their first contact and everything in their direct vicinity would instantly evaporate. The shock waves released by their detonation extended for miles, blowing away any thing or person in their wake. It was a sickening spectacle.  
  
"RUBY STOP STARING AT IT, WE NEED TO GET TO SAFETY"  
  
Before I could process what was going on, dad picked me up and carried me like a dead weight to the basement of the apartment complex we lived in. Yang and some of our neighbors were already sitting inside this cellar surrounded by massive concrete walls. There were other children crying and people panicking, trying to seek refuge or take in supplies.  
  
As dad neared the vaulted door of what I later found out was a bunker, the ground shook. The crying and shouting got louder. The lights flickered. Overwhelmed by fear, my vision became blurry, tears welling up in my eyes as I curled in on myself in dad's arms. He had fallen to the floor but was quick to get back up on his feet.  
  
"Dad, where's mom? I want mom! I-It's scary!"  
  
He frantically looked around, coming to the realization, perhaps too late, that Summer should have been there by then. They had been on the phone briefly, not too long ago and she was rushing home from work when hell broke loose.  
  
Pieces of debris were detaching, a large boulder landing right next to us, as the ceiling began to collapse.  
  
"I'm sorry. We can't wait for her sweetheart, we need to rush inside"  
  
"BUT DAD, MOM-!"  
  
With a dead look in his eye, he entered the bunker and shut the massive, green, reinforced-steel door behind us. Another quake, this one more intense than the previous, accompanied by the rattling of tons of rubble hitting the floor, shook us to the core and took the lights with it as it came through.  
  
The power had gone out completely.  
  
I'm not sure how long the blackout lasted. My memories get kind of hazy after that. I was no more than five years old, after all.  
  
I remember the everlasting darkness, voices whispering in the dark, seeking reassurance, trying to figure out what was going on.  
  
I remember having to survive on canned food, having to take turns to find the corner with the only functioning toilet between twenty-eight people.  
  
I missed mom. Dad kept cooing and hugging us, saying she probably found safety somewhere else and that we'd be reunited with her eventually.  
  
It was hard to fall sleep. One of the moms from the neighboring apartment would sing lullabies or invent fairy tails off the top of her head to get us to rest.  
  
We were in there for what could have been days, weeks, or months even.  
  
An eternity later, a glimmer of light appeared with a loud whine from the vault door. Someone or something was prying it open from the outside. Soon enough, a strange machine with a laser gun attachment appeared in our line of sight. A military guy, clad in a heavy anti-projectile vest and mimetic uniform, stepped in, asking if everybody was alright.  
  
Our eyes hurt. Exposure to the sunlight, after living in the dark for a prolonged period of time, caused our retinas to burn... and then it hit me. The sunlight?!  
  
The whole apartment complex above us was gone. Wiped away by one of the many bombs, or shock waves. The soldiers attempting to rescue us seemed to be on our side.  
  
Once all the refugees, including us, had been evacuated to the nearest military truck headed to a safe outpost, we finally had a chance to get a good look at the devastation that had been left behind. It felt unreal, like a scene from an apocalyptic action movie. The atmosphere smelled burnt, it tasted metallic. There were a million stenches mixed in when the wind blew our way.  
  
We were soon administered some strange pills that contained something called "Iodine". They imposed we wear these weird, squeaky suits and a gas masks for our own protection.  
  
A lot of the soldiers looked red in the face and had strange burn marks on their skin. It wasn't uncommon for them to cough up blood.  
  
It didn't take long for the dread to form in my belly. There was no way mom had survived out there.  
  
I had a breakdown and kept blaming dad. I later understood, growing up, that there was nothing he could have done to save her.  
  
"YOU KILLED HER. WHY DID YOU NOT WAIT FOR HER!!! I HATE YOU!!!"  
  
Five year old me kept pounding my tiny fists on dad's legs. He didn't react. He just shut down on us, with that empty stare he'd have for the rest of his years alive.  
  
One could call this a rough childhood, but things only got more complicated from there on.  
  
The government of Vale was gone. Hell. All of the Kingdoms were gone. Vale, Vytal, Atlas, Vacuo and Mistral. Why did the aliens attack us and where did they come from?  
  
I was thirteen years old when I learnt about the entire truth behind what had transpired.  
  
The government had tried to communicate with the alien forces without informing the public. Their exchange had been anything but friendly.  
  
The Arume, such was the name the alien species went by, had warned them of their intentions: their invasion was imminent and they were armed. Remnant was to surrender to the Arume and accept their initially nonsensical and outrageous conditions or succumb to their weapons.  
  
Obviously, the government, not exactly too happy with this hostile approach, tried to negotiate before engaging in the conflict head-first.  
  
I recall the incredulous laugh escaping my lungs, when I first heard the demands the Arume had made: "We demand all of your women, all of your finest foods and energy sources. We do not care for the trade currency or culture your planet and species thrive in. Each one of the Arume will and shall be regarded as superior to any of you. If you fail to show us the respect we deserve, the penalty will be death. If anyone opposes the living conditions we establish once we take over your planet, they shall meet a similar fate. We have a zero-tolerance policy. This is the only deal we offer and it is to be considered as final. Take it or leave it."  
  
It sounded like something a fourteen year old nerd with a God complex would say online, in a video game. But those were their exact words, or as close as it got to them, since they used their own language interpretation software to respond.  
  
The Arume's common tongue, which everyone had been forced to learn in school during the years following the truce, was called "Deutsch". We called it "German", because it was simpler to refer to it that way. It was funny sounding and unlike any latin-borne language present on Remnant. Yang refused to learn it beyond the most basic level needed to pass the class tests, to stay out of trouble (the local Arume authorities didn't take well to those who disobeyed their newly installed schooling system). I, on the other hand, thought it would come in handy, to know the language of the enemy. They weren't going to get away with killing mom and all the other innocent people that died on Day Zero.  
  
Either way, it came as no surprise that Remnant as a whole refused to surrender. The reason it took the Arume under a year to defeat us? They didn't just have kamikaze, self-exploding clones. They had Emule-forces, at telepathy based shape-shifting substance that would turn into your worst nightmare, which they used to break our ranks and send entire fleets running. They had Kaijins, a hive of self-improving nanobots that would gather the elements to form monsters of various sizes and kinds. They would attack people and military alike, killing without discriminating between grown men, infants or pregnant women. It didn't matter. They killed and killed. They wiped out entire districts of our greatest metropolises.  
  
The pitiful attempts to counter nuclear living time bombs with more of our own nukes, turned out to be counter-productive. The amount of livable surface on Remnant decreased by 80% (later restored and cleared of radioactive waste by Arume technologies), and when the population fell from 7 billion to 2.5 billion people left, of which mostly women, small children and families, the few people left at the head of our government sent out a distress signal on every radio channel broadcasting our definite and indisputable surrender.  
  
No one knows if it was a mere coincidence or if it had been done on purpose, but the count of men to women had become 1 (man) in 10 (women).  
  
Rumors had it that, during the war, a couple out of the thousands of Arume war-ships deployed, had been downed and that some of the aliens that survived, had been taken as war prisoners for ransom. The way these Arume had been treated in captivity, repeatedly beaten and raped by the men in charge of them, may have been a factor in the lack of mercy and humanity they'd later show towards the survivors from the war, especially human males.  
  
Customs, practices and rules were enforced. The most messed up of them all imposed mandatory gender reassignment.  
  
With their advanced bio-tech ware, it must have been a joke to the Arume, playing with living cells and human sex chromosomes. Although unthinkable to the brightest minds between our scientists, they had developed an advanced system of DNA editing through Cas9, better known as CRISPR: a protein featuring an enzyme that acted like a pair of scissors on any cell's genetic material.  
  
Thanks to this inner mechanism of gene editing, combined with a schedule of hormone injections and several surgeries over the span of two years, people who had been normal, functional guys, became perfectly normal women... except for their suicidal tendencies, crippling depression and dysphoria. In fact, most of them would wind up jumping off a cliff.  
  
I wish I were kidding. It would make all of this sound more like a bad trip on a hallucinogenic drug, rather than the actual reality we had to face every single day.  
  
Show any form of opposition to the programme and you'd be killed on the spot. Use the wrong pronoun to refer to yourself and you'd be psychologically and physically tortured into doing it right. They even provided you with a new name, similar to your old one, but of their own choosing. _Oh, how kind of them..._ I personally think they came up with that as yet another form of mocking you and your already miserable condition. I've lost so many friends to their shitty gender "correction" programme. I'm never going to forgive whoever came up with it.  
  
One of the people we lost to it was Lie Ren, Nora's boyfriend. He refused to undergo any of the treatments and fought to his death to keep his identity intact. Nora secretly swore to kill every Arume in the universe on his funeral. I don't blame her. I don't think I would have acted much differently if I were straight and they killed my SO.  
  
Jaune, another one of my best friends, had to deal with it as well. He was dating Pyrrha when the programme had found him after 15 years of hiding. Jaune has to now publicly go as Joan of Arc. The complications and impact this had on his relationship with Pyrrha were immense. Nonetheless, she refused to stop loving him, despite the fact they turned him into a woman. Bless her. She swore, she would find a way to get back at them for what they did to him as well.  
  
Sometimes I'm not sure whether or not I should be glad for being born a woman and a lesbian, seen the shithole this world has been shaped into.  
  
Another thing the Arume had introduced was slavery.  
  
Anyone disobeying them, outside of the programmes and rules that saw death as immediate punishment, would lose their basic rights and could be degraded and made into a slave. The slaves were usually shipped off to the quarries, to mine for expensive and dangerous materials, some of them used by the spaceship manufacturing industry, while others served as catalysts for advanced cold fusion nuclear reactions.  
  
The workers were given just enough to eat and not die from the cold (and radiation exposure, during excavations) when they slept in the barracks, once their eleven hour shifts were over. The Arume family behind the slave and mineral trade were the Schnees. A few members of that family had also made it into the line of command in the military, and one in particular was known as the high leader of the Arume, the worst of the worst: Jacqueline Schnee, head of the family. She had been the one politically involved and responsible for drafting all the despicable, controversial conditions and programmes the Arume were infamous for.  
  
I'm now 24 years old and at present. We have a network of several hundreds of people involved in an undercover resistance.  
The Retribution, our order, is growing every day. My half-sister Yang and her girlfriend Blake, Jaune and Pyrrha, Nora and even Penny, the only non-human among us, have joined with me, to fight for our rights and hopefully find a way to return the Arume to whatever dark hole they crawled out from.  
  
"Ruby."  
  
Yang's voice snapped me out of my reminiscing.  
  
"Hey sis. What's up?"  
  
"You've been staring out of that window for hours. Also, your 'baby', as you like to call her, must be back in shape by now. Care to come grab a bite with Blake and I?"  
  
I looked down at Crescent Rose, my High-Caliber Sniper-Scythe. The blade I was working on had ended up blunted during our last training session. I didn't expect for Blake to disarm me so quickly and send her flying against a titanium pipe. The edge was probably sharper than thou by now.  
  
"Y-yeah sure why not. I had just been thinking about things. I'll join you at our secret HQ?"  
  
"We were actually thinking of going to town. As much as I love our smelly old bunker, some fresh air might not hurt for once. Besides, they opened a new sushi restaurant, run entirely by non-Arume. And you know how much Blake loves fish."  
  
"Ugh. Fine. But let's not stay out until late, ok? I'm in no mood to go clubbing after the sushi dinner..."  
  
"Alright, alright. You win sis... Just remember: you don't get to complain that you got no girlfriend. The dance floor in that district is the perfect place to go... *fishing*. Heheh."  
  
"God Yang, please stop. I swear your puns are going to drive me insane someday."  
  
I got up, folded Crescent and headed out, hoping this wouldn't devolve into a one-sided contest of lame puns.  
  
"I can't help it. You know that I'm _pun-sexual!_"  
  
"Please kill me now."  
  
A giggle and a pat to the shoulder later, we were on our way to the place.  
  
I really wanted to race against Yang to see if she could keep up with my new GBM (Genetically Boosted Modification, a technology we stole from the Arume and adapted to give ourselves special abilities, dubbed "semblances"; a person could enhance their semblance up to three times, each time changing their main property, presentation or ability range slightly), but we had to make a stop along the way to pick up Blake from the weapon shop owned by her family.  
  
Since my original induced mutation turned out to be speed-based (it's random for each individual), I added a few perks to it. With the latest GMB I chose, I've strengthened my ligaments to absorb more fall damage, which means I get to bounce off things while accumulating speed, which in turn means more fun, efficient sprinting. Yang would probably end up eating my dust, not gonna lie. Maybe Penny would be able to keep up. But she has robotic components on her side, so that's like, the hugest advantage ever. Imagine if you could interchange body parts or just get a new one that did something unique and completely awesome on its own! Gaah. Here I am, rambling in my own brain again.  
  
"Ruby to Remnant? We are here."  
  
"Oh, already?"  
  
"Yup. I'll go call Blake. Want to come upstairs or wait here?"  
  
"I'd rather wait here than see you two tongue-wrestle again. Please don't take too long?"  
  
"Hahahah. Alright Rubes. Sorry. I know I lack self-control around her, but can you blame me?"  
  
The suggestive eyes she subsequently made to underline that statement were already too much information to me.  
  
"Yaaaaang- Ew! Blake is pretty, yes, but I don't want a picture of you two bumping uglies in my head!"  
  
As Yang disappeared in the shop, I surveyed the nightlife of the district.  
  
Yes, I hated the Arume, but I'll have to give it to them. They pretty much eradicated every form of criminality and back-alley dealings with their policies. Selling drugs being a criminal offense punishable by death might have been a strong incentive to that, though.  
  
The citizens of new Vale seemed to be enjoying their night undisturbed. Some girls were drinking and partying together, other groups of low-ranking Arume were heavily flirting with not very interested human locals. The music from the nearby night club was loud enough to be pouring out on the street. What Yang ever loved about those seedy, sweaty, crowded outlets, I always failed to understand.  
  
The peace was suddenly disrupted by a loud shout in Hoch-deutsch (high German).  
  
"Du widerliches Tier! Wie wagst du es, von mir zu stehlen! Du wirst es noch bereuen!" (Translation: "You filthy animal! How dare you steal from me? I'll make you regret this!")  
  
Okay, maybe I was being a little too optimistic when I thought criminality had been eradicated, but who the hell would still dare to steal when the victim of your crime could choose the punishment you got? You had to be either an idiot or desperate.  
  
I was about to look away and leave it be when I saw what was actually going on. It was one of the former boys that had to undergo transitioning. They were lying on the ground, cowering from a Schnee (couldn't mistake that snow crest on her bolero even if you tried) pressing her heel down on their ribs.  
  
No. This did not sit well with me. I couldn't just ignore it. Why? Because this is how dad died. Nevermind that he shut down from losing mom in the war. When the crappy transitioning programme came around, he broke down crying, begging none other than Jacqueline Schnee to leave him be. And what did Jacqueline do? Step on him and crush his ribs until he died from internal bleeding. Both Yang and I had to be restrained that day. They knocked Yang out too and thank God for that, because I think she would have gotten herself killed otherwise. It had taken years of therapy to get it somewhat out of our systems, but this, oh no, this was not happening again, not on my watch.  
  
Triggered by the scene and fueled by rage, I stomped my way over to the Schnee.  
  
"HEY DU! JA, ICH REDE MIT DIR. LASS SIE ALLEIN! SIE HAT SCHON GENUG GELITTEN!" ("HEY YOU! YES, I'M TALKING TO YOU. LEAVE HER ALONE! SHE HAS SUFFERED ENOUGH!")  
  
That got her attention pretty fast. She turned towards me and replied rather annoyed: "Ach ja? Und sonst was? Gibst du mir eine gescheuert?" ("Oh yeah? Or else what? You'll slap some sense into me?")  
  
"Ganz GENAU!" ("PRECISELY THAT!")  
  
I pulled Crescent Rose from my back and unfolded. In a split second, I slammed the rear of the shaft into her head. Or so I thought. A snowflake shaped glyph force-field had blocked the swing like it was nothing.  
  
It became a stare contest between me and the woman for a good minute or so.  
  
"If you apologize now, I'll let you walk away unscathed, commoner. This is your last chance. You know it is the law for me to punish thieves the way I please."  
  
"Hah. Apologize. That's a good one. You Schnees always talk as if you are better than everyone else. I'm never going to apologize, _princess_. Du kannst mich mal! ("Bite me!")"  
  
"I don't know what your problem is, but you've chosen the wrong person to pick a fight with. Yes, I may be a Schnee, Weiss Schnee, to be precise, yet I don't consider myself to be better than anyone; I'm simply working towards that goal. Worth is earned, not given out for free!"  
  
I pressed down harder with my weapon, hoping it would at least make a crack in her glyph, but I had no such luck.  
  
"Those are funny words coming from an Arume. But I assume you have to tell yourself things to sleep better at night!"  
  
"You insolent-!"  
  
The confrontation was cut short by a smoke bomb that threw everyone present into a coughing fit. I felt someone grabbing my arm and harshly tugging me along.  
  
"Are you insane?! Yang leaves you alone for five minutes and you pick a fight with one of the highest ranking Schnees out there? What happened to keeping a low profile?!!"  
  
Blake was furious, and rightfully so. I had screwed up, big time. Maybe I'd have to go into hiding for life now.  
  
"I'm sorry I can explain-"  
  
"Hush! Hold it. You can tell me later. First and foremost, we need to get you out of here and make sure no one followed us."  
  
We zig-zagged into several alleys, took shortcuts that only residents would know about and made our escape to the nearest abandoned building. In the distance, I could hear the Schnee girl fuming and swearing she'd find me and give me a piece of her mind. She may as well try.  
  
Yang had not been too far behind, closing up any possible entry route by barricading nearby doors and windows.  
  
"We are so fucked."  
\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
  



	2. Lieutenant General Weiss Schnee

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First off, I'd like to apologize. It's exam season and I'm stressed out like hell. This is why I updated 3 weeks later instead of the 1 week I promised. Over the Christmas holidays I might be able to write a lot more!
> 
> That said, I stayed up until 5am to write this. Hope you enjoy.

\--- Weiss' POV ---

"Curse that insolent brat!" I yelled to no one in particular, as I gave up the chase to catch my breath.

The girl in red. She was fast. It could only have been her semblance.

Usually, no offender would be able to escape me so easily. This revelation could facilitate tracking her down, narrowing the window of possible IDs that could match hers, unless...

I reached for my scroll and quickly pulled up the SS department's file database search engine. No matches found that resembled her in the slightest.

"Illegal GMBs. I should have known... No one with a normal ID would be sane enough to confront me. I will find you anyway, speedster... just you watch."

_Ugh. This day as a whole has been a complete and utter disaster. Mother Jacqueline is going to be furious._

The past few years, an undercover organization had made its presence known. As of late, they are causing more and more havoc, sabotaging, stealing and redeploying Arume technology for their own purposes. I mean, it had to be expected, that the inhabitants of Remnant would eventually strike back. No species ever liked being dominated by an alien invader, let alone living in fear for their lives. It's something I can, strangely enough, relate to.

I had only been seven years old when we were being hunted down and chased through space by Grimm creatures.

It was hard... abandoning our home planet, Deunacht, and leaving whatever little childhood I had experienced there, behind.

Salem's influence had become never-ending, fast-spreading and ominous.

Ever since the Grimm's first appearance, 200 years ago, the Arume population had been dwindling. 

Previously, the Arume counted a population of 16 billion inhabitants. Years and years of scientific breakthroughs had led us to prosperity. 

Our species originally featured males in it, but following the discovery of increased life expectancy through combining two women's gametes, we took to implementing a modification that would make it possible for two women to have children together, and improved it, generation after generation. Government funding backed up the project, promoting the image of creating all-female families in the media. The result was that an Arume woman could live up to an average of 350 years by the time the first culling of men had taken root in our strongly matriarchal culture. The cullings marked the beginning of the dark ages, during which, it is believed, Salem formed a movement of political opposition to compromise what was being done. The aggressive populism that would later re-shape our entire society, had no happy ending in mind for the brave woman. She was publicly humiliated and flayed alive, killed alongside her followers. Scientists speculate that due to the execution method utilized, a laser powered by quantum Dust particles, some inexplicable exception, bound to advanced quantum physics, allowed for a window to open on another plane of existence. She inadvertently channeled all the negative emotions she was experiencing towards this new outlet.  
The Beacon of Darkness, as they like to call this anomaly, trapped her in an eternal state of pain, between death and life, but also granted her powers never seen before.

After escaping through some sort of teleportation, Salem disappeared for several centuries. Many thought her dead, as she was the child of one of the last men and a woman.

We were soon proven very, VERY wrong.

She had trained her new powers to test the extent of her abilities, honing them for the length of time she had gone missing. 

The consequences were dire for us Arume. Our A.U.R.A. devices failed to protect us. Salem could manipulate what appeared to be shadows and people's fears. With people driven insane on the battlefield, friendly fire became the main cause of death for many troupes that tried to take her out. Grimm creatures were the very manifestation of her vengeance. Bloodbath after bloodbath, genocide after genocide, no one could hold a candle to her. In addition, nothing seemed to appease her, despite truces, status and recognition being proposed or promised in an attempt to stop her from driving us to extinction. The only thing she saw was red. She would stop at anything.

I had the luck to be born in a family important enough to be granted safety and VIP privileges wherever we went. If it weren't for our involvement with quantum Dust and the progress we had made to take some of our ships successfully through space-time worm holes (and back), I think we would have been flayed next, as we were often accused of being the origin of Salem's powers.

On my seventh birthday, an operation to evacuate the planet was launched; soon enough, hundreds of thousands of ships were set up to reach space. 

Space training was intense and weird. I remember having to get accustomed to 0-G, undergoing exercises that would prevent muscle atrophy, and eating the very disgusting space ration packs that we'd have to consume before the on-board biome-spheres could independently function and produce their own range of fruits, vegetables and sustainable animal life.

Mother Jacqueline had been tasked with guiding all the elite minds of our world to space before Salem could sabotage everything they had worked so hard on. 100'000 ships were to reach space by the end of the day. Only 10'000 were able to launch in time, before Salem's ambush. The final massacre wiped out all Arume life remaining on Deunacht. She even went as far as to take the chase to space, using Nevermores to catch up with the ships.

I hid in the space compartment that made up my room, crying, for most of the hasty trip. We did not know if we were going to survive.

Winter stayed with me throughout the whole ordeal.

The exact coordinates assigned to our route were essential to align the space-time wormhole. Our destination would feature a universe with lifeforms similar enough to us. It felt like a miracle when our brightest astrophysicists and biologists spotted Remnant's solar system thanks to our advanced quantum mapping systems.

Mother Willow explained, as I grew up on the ship, that only 1000 Arume ships at a time could make the jump... something about wormholes dividing their mass by zero when it exceeded a certain amount of subatomic particles. This is the reason behind why not everyone was able to catch up with us.

After the third battalion had gone through the wormhole, the latter collapsed in on itself. We were left with 3000 ships. As for the others... they were lost to Salem, and the 2000 that had tried to cross at the same time were probably sucked into a black hole at the other end of the universe... or had dropped out of this plane of existence. This was merely speculation and pretty much up for debate, as no one had ever come back from such a situation.

The point is: we _had_ to invade Remnant. There was no other choice. 

Each one of the massive ships had been designed to hold 10 original Arume and 1000 clones. Clones were not able to reproduce and had no will of their own. They were disposable soldiers designed to act as maintenance crew, diversions or artillery, once launched into the alien planet's atmosphere. This left us with a population of 30'000 viable Arume that would allow us to carry on living. Biologists and geneticists evaluated that, since a lot of the Arume that had made it were blood-related to each other, the species would die out in 300 years due to genetic diseases that even CRISPR couldn't edit out.

"We demand all of your women, all of your finest foods and energy sources. We do not care for the trade currency or culture your planet and species thrive in. Each one of the Arume will and shall be regarded as superior to any of you. If you fail to show us the respect we deserve, the penalty will be death. If anyone opposes the living conditions we establish once we take over your planet, they shall meet a similar fate. We have a zero-tolerance policy. This is the only deal we offer and it is to be considered as final. Take it or leave it."

It was with a heavy heart that Mother Jacqueline put down her iron fist and transmitted that message via our translation software and communication console, or so it seemed.

Arume culture tended to favor people who could be in control of their emotions, who'd show no weakness, and as such, I was trained to become Mother Jacqueline's successor. Many speculated that she was a psychopath, hungry for power. Sometimes, I've questioned it myself. It is not such a far-fetched idea, since she basically took over as High Leader of the species, to supposedly ensure our survival. Our people had to address her as "Führer". Anyone who didn't... let's say they'd end up floated. Dying in space was not a nice death.

Getting back to the present... I did not agree with all of the extreme measures Mother Jacqueline imposed upon humans. Especially regarding the selective breeding programmes.  
I suppose that giving them the option of gender reassignment is still better than outright killing them like in the cullings of the dark ages... but it's still not that much better.  
We just don't have any use for males anymore, as we cannot reproduce through them any longer (change implemented ages ago). 

Pragmatism is the only reason we have survived and come this far...

Armed with my Multi-Action Dust Rapier Myrtenaster, I ventured down some dark alleys, to look for clues as to where my assailant and the people who rescued her might've been headed to. As I trudged through the slummish parts of the district, I noticed some homeless, human women lying about, their wrists covered in cuts, fresh and old, partially oozing red blood.

Right. I still wasn't entirely used to this. Humans had red blood due to certain heme chains in their hemoglobin. Arume had a few mutations that rendered ours white, heme g-b502 and heme g-a401 were the heme groups responsible for the milky-white pigmentation.

Red blood looks gross. Perhaps this is kind of a racist- actually, species-biased thing to say but... it's so... dirty... and wrong. Well, I sure hope that if I have to involve myself with one of these creatures to continue my own blood line, they won't get hurt and bleed all over me. The last thing I need is to get my pristine, white outfit soaked in earth-colored, murky stains. What kind of _Schutzstaffel Obergruppenführer_ (SS lieutenant general) would I be, if I ended up not only having humans disrespect me and get away with it, but also covered in filth?! That would be an affront to the Schnee name and probably make me the embarrassment of the century. No, I definitely don't need that happening. I have just been given this new, important position last week. I am to inherit Mother Jacqueline's legacy, to become the Erbe des Führers (heiress to the high leader).

The only available solution to restore my reputation is to persevere and find that girl in red. _ Sie wird mir nicht entkommen _ (she won't get away).

Filled with a new wave of determination, I surveyed my surroundings and cast my glance to the floor, only to find that there were spots where the concrete ended and the ground had turned to mud due to a rain shower earlier that day. Trying to keep my heels out of it, I zeroed in on a trail of footprints, belonging exactly to three people.

"Bingo..."

With a gentle flick of my wrist, I activated a couple of glyphs to silently walk over the muddy ground. I spotted the end of the trail ahead of me, just a few blocks down. Their temporary hideout appeared to be an abandoned building that used to be a parking lot. Not many places to hide there.

\--- Ruby's POV ---

"Yang, I know. It was a stupid move and I promise you, I'll never try something like that with my face bared ever again. Now, can we work out a way to get home?"

Yang sat on an empty crate, arms crossed, wearing a disgruntled expression.

"Ruby... You didn't just trip up an Arume without apologizing. You poked the beehive with a very sharp stick! Do you know in how much danger you put yourself out there?! And us, by extension! They will have your head for it! And maybe ours too for helping you out! Oum... If we somehow manage to get home, I'll call myself lucky."

I caught Blake observing me while I paced back and forth, gesticulating nervously, trying to brainstorm for ideas that would get us out of this mess.

"May I...?" She said, interrupting my train of thought. "The best way to get out of this Code Red is to disguise ourselves. Once that's all set, we'll head out to the nearest manhole and climb into it. The sewers might be gross, but they're the most safe, unchecked passageway that will take us back to our HQs."

"Ugh... I hate when you're right. There's no way we can rush back out without being seen."

I then proceeded to sit down on another empty crate, quite distraught with the mess I'd gotten myself into.

"You two stay here. It's night and I know how to move around in the shadows. I'll be back in a bit with some custom outfits that should get us around without rousing suspicion."

Blake was about to turn the corner and disappear, when she felt someone gripping her arm and turned her head just to be met with Yang's concerned gaze.

"Stay safe, okay?"

"Do you trust me?"

Taken aback by the question, Yang narrowed her eyes.

"Of course I trust you!"

"Then you have nothing to worry about. I'll come back as soon as possible. I promise."

To get the point across, Blake leaned in and kissed Yang to instill reassurance in her girlfriend.

I moaned in half-disgust.

"Shut up Ruby. You have no idea what you're in for once you have a significant other."

Responding with an eye-roll, I slid off the crate and took to wandering around the building.

With Blake gone, Yang's attention was now fully and solely focused on me.

"Ruby where do you think you're going?"

"Yang I'm not 5. Please stop worrying about everything I do."

"Sorry pibsqueak, but I need to make sure you don't just ditch me here and try to go on a heroic quest alone."

I sighed in annoyance.

"Look, I need to go to the loo, so unless you want to watch me squat, I suggest you let me go do my thing in a corner. Can I...?"

"Oh alright, that's a different story. Sure. Go ahead. But if you're taking too long I'll come check on you! Try not to scar me permanently, should that be the case!"

I groaned and made my way to a more sheltered part of the abandoned parking lot, while Yang turned away to give me some privacy.

"I can do everything fine just on my own... I bet I could even sneak out of the building without anyone notic- *hmpgf!*" I muttered to myself, but was soon cut short by an arm wrapping around my neck and another pushing a damp cloth on my face.

"_ Doch hast du dir dabei nicht bedacht, mit wem du diese Gleichung machts... _" (you obviously didn't know, who you were messing with...)

I thrashed and tried to loosen the kidnapper's grip.

_ Don't breathe Ruby. Don't breathe don't breathe don't breathe! _

Through the window's reflection in front of me, I was able to recognize the figure. Of course it had to be no other than Weiss Schnee. God damn it! How did she even find us?!

She leaned in, sporting an evil smirk as the intentionally stepped on my foot. I opened my mouth reflexively to scream, but that was exactly what she'd been waiting for. My mistake was evident as the chloroform entered my airways and my vision became increasingly blurry. The last thing I heard before blacking out was: "Don't worry. I'll interrogate you personally once you wake up. And it won't be pleasant."

Darkness enveloped me, a strange warmth, a hand stroking my cheek gently, being the last thing I felt before losing consciousness.

\------------------------------------------


	3. A game of cat and mouse

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not particularly good at writing bumbleby hurt/comfort, but here you go. I'll feed you this.
> 
> Also... Weiss' "crackhead energy" and rants from volume 1 are the purest form of entertainment. Yes, I graced you with some of that too. xD

\--- Yang’s POV ---

_She is taking way too long… Both of them are. _

I wasn’t always this paranoid.  
People usually described me as an easy-going ray of sunshine, whereas the reality we lived in… grim, gloomy and hopeless.

I never really understood what they meant, not until I lost the spark of life. I’m not sure whether it happened when Jacqueline murdered dad… or when some of our best friends were taken. Honestly, at this point we’re just trying to survive, day by day, night by night. If it weren’t for Blake, I don’t think I would have any energy left in me to be myself, to be able to crack a joke or smile, despite it all. 

One thing I can say for certain, though: the biting paranoia began the first time Ruby went missing for a whole week. That was last year. She went out to get some supplies and never came back that night. 

As it turns out, the supplies she had to get were seized by local Arume authorities, and Ruby got stuck in a very long chase, with a broken scroll and no way to call back or let me know she was safe.

Being her big sister… and sometimes her mother, has been anything but flowers and rainbows. There’s been cases in which she had to hold and pamper me because I had a panic attack or a mental breakdown. I wish I could have kept that side of me away from her. Seeing her big sis crack like that… Killed some of the little positivity she had left in her that made her... well, Ruby. 

Maybe finding a girl such as Blake has been for me, might do her some good. I’d hate to learn that the Ruby I used to know is completely gone.

Either way, my sixth sense… or my paranoia is ringing alarm bells in my head. I can feel that something is off. Don’t care if I get stuff thrown at me for seeing her take a piss. I’d rather be at peace by knowing I’ve done my big sis duty and that Ruby’s alright.

I halted my frantic pacing, peering over the corner to check what was going on.

Silence. 

Everything was still and pitch black.

“Ruby? You okay over there? ...Are you there at all?”

No shuffling could be heard, no answer, no nothing. Bad. This is bad.

“Ruby if this is a prank I swear to Oum and all the gods out there…”

I never got to finish the sentence. There, on the floor, lay Crescent Rose, folded. Ruby would _never_, and by that, I mean _NEVER_, leave her favorite creation unattended. She went as far as sleeping with it; she would take it to the bathroom at any outlet or restaurant we visited, too. Hell, she would have probably done just that if we had made it to the god-darn sushi bar, instead of falling into this bear trap of a predicament.

When the realization hit me, anxiety rose at an all-time high.

“No… no. No-no-no-nonoNONONONONONO!!! RUBY!!!”

_Crap… Not now. I can’t have another panic attack now. My baby sis needs me… Ruby… _

Everything’s spinning. I’m hyperventilating and can’t seem to catch my breath. My heart feels like it’s going to stop and burst out of my rib-cage at the same time. I can feel tears forming at the corner of my eyes. If I lose control now, who knows what might follow… It nearly happened when dad died, if they hadn’t knocked me out…

A rasping scream shattered the quietness that had been smothering me. I knew it belonged to me, but everything felt like an out-of-body experience. My hair catching fire, my eyes turning a bloody red, I could see my semblance threatening to take over, reflected by a nearby plane of glass. The window was jagged and split in pieces. A tatter of red fabric, possibly belonging to Ruby’s cloak, clung to one of the shards.

“I’M GOING TO FUCKING KILL YOU!!! WHOEVER YOU ARE, I’M GONNA FIND YOU AND MAKE YOU EAT YOUR OWN INNARDS!!! YOU CAN’T TAKE HER FROM ME!!! SHE-!” 

I involuntarily hiccuped.

“SHE’S ALL I HAVE LEFT. OTHER THAN BLAKE! I-...”

My head began throbbing. I _have_ to regain control, or I’d wake up somewhere in the middle of nowhere and not remember how many people I sent to the ER in one sitting.

“Yang! I’m here. Hey, calm down. We’ll find her.”

Oh thank fuck. At least she wasn’t taken.

“Yang...”

Blake cautiously took a few steps, reaching out and wrapping her arms around me, pulling my head to her shoulder. A sudden wave of calmness washed over, canceling out the rage, anxiety and desperation. Had it been anyone else, they would’ve been sent to the maker through one of my infamous right hooks.

“Blake… they- someone… t-took Ruby...”

“We are going to find her. I promise. I’m so sorry I was gone this long. Arume police has grown tight and one of them stalked me down an alleyway. I had to lose her or else I would have lead her straight to us. We can’t take any more risks… please, promise me you’ll be okay.”

I felt a hand cup my face, her thumb stroking me and wiping away a few stray tears that had gathered there.  
We stared into each other’s eyes. Her amber orbs were filled with determination.

“You’re right.”

I wrapped her in a tight hug. The roller coaster of emotions cursing through me finally settling.

“We’re going to find her… But I can’t promise that I won’t ruin a few faces in the process. Playing sneak-thief has never been my thing.”

Blake sighed and accepted the fact that she wasn’t going to get a better answer out of her hot-headed girlfriend.

“Fine. But only if strictly necessary… Are you alright to talk now?”

“Yeah. I think I am.”

“Okay, so… What happened? How did Ruby get taken?”

“I… was stupid enough to let her go tend to nature’s call on her own. She said she’d be fine, and with how I secured the building, I thought no one would have been able to enter quietly. I should have known better...”

Blake took my hands and squeezed them gently.

“In no way is this your fault. Yang, I would have probably done the same. We can’t always predict what’s going to happen, and I know this is not helping your paranoia at all. Were you able to spot anything unusual?”

I trembled a bit in anger, hating myself for not listening to my protective instincts, but relented. There was no point in brooding, not when we had a rescue mission ahead of us.

“There’s just a shred belonging to her cloak on that window. I didn’t see or hear anything. Whoever did this was either a professional… or a really well trained patrol.”

Nearing the window, she took the torn fabric and sniffed it. Her expression turned to one of surprise when she recognized the second scent attached to it, along with some less than pleasant details.

“The Schnee. _Weiss_ Schnee. It’s the same perfume I caught a whiff of when we had to run. This complicates things even further...”

“Of course it had to be her! Oh, she’s going to be so dead when we get her...”

Cat years twitching at the top of her head and brows furrowed, Blake wore a conflicted look. Her mind raced, seemingly somewhere else.

“We can’t do this alone. Give me your scroll. We need to inform Penny, Pyrrha, Nora and Ilia. Ruby has probably been taken to a concentration camp by now. If we move swiftly and inconspicuously, we should be able to bypass their security.

“Also, there was something else...” She hesitated to tell me this part.

“What is it? Was Ruby hurt?!” My eyes briefly flashed back to red.

“Not exactly. But the air around here reeks of two things: chloroform, which may explain how she was overpowered so quickly, and… urine.”

“Yeah, that makes sense. Ruby would never go down without a fight and... well. Maybe she got caught during, ah, the act. Still, what a coward’s move! The only moment one has their guard down, they have to sneak up on her like that. I’ll be sure to drown the Schnee in a toilet. Seems a fitting enough death to me, for someone that spineless.”

Blake chuckled at that.

“That would be quite the ironic death, indeed. Keep your anger for later though. It will come in handy when we have to get the girl to talk. Someone that important must be sitting on a lot of confidential information. This might even turn the tables in our favor.”

“I like where this is headed… Here. Let’s get the party going.” 

I handed her my scroll and she dialed up all the numbers in a group call right away. 

Oum do I love this woman. I really don’t know where I’d be without her.

“...Hello? Penny? Yeah, is everyone else on the line? And the call encrypted? Good. We had a little encounter tonight. We’re out to catch some big fish. So here’s what happened and how this is going to go down...”

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

\--- Weiss’ POV ---

I don’t know what’s gotten into me. I’m not a creep, so why did I stroke her cheek when she passed out?! She looked… at peace. And so darn cute. NO. Not cute. Not ever. She’s the enemy. I just had a moment there. A funny moment that is not going to repeat itself. NOT TO MENTION how she wet herself like a baby after losing her senses… Which might have been a side effect to the chloroform, in hindsight. I should have known better. 

Ugh... I just wish it hadn’t stained one of my best combat outfits. And the smell! How humiliating! Why did humans have to be so disgusting and definitely not attractive at the same time?!

*sigh*

It sure has been a hassle, dragging her back to the station and processing her through the system. At least there weren’t any snarky or witty comments from the other police women. I guess my new rank does come with a lot more authority than simply being the heiress to the Arume race.

I’ll make sure to interrogate her personally. It shouldn’t be that hard to bring little Red to talk. One way or another, I’ll get to her. If not, the correctional facility she’ll be sent to will provide her with a change of heart. Of that I am sure of. A Schnee always gets what they want.

I better go get changed now. If I carry this stench on me any longer, I think I might retch.

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

\--- Ruby’s POV ---

_Ugh my head… where… am I?_

Cold. A concrete floor. A pounding headache. Tiredness and aching all over my body. Everything is blurry and I’m feverishly dizzy.

My arms won’t move. Something is impeding movement… my wrists are tied together in titanium alloy handcuffs. Great.

I scramble and toss about using my own legs as leverage, until I’m finally sitting upright. My sense of smell catches up with me too. Eww… Piss. Right. Whatever they drugged me with made me go limp and relaxed every muscle in my body. Guess they don’t bother to change their prisoners at… wherever this is.

The door also seems to be made in some kind of reinforced metal. Everything’s quite bare in the cell they left me to rot in. I wonder how long they intend to keep me here before one of those monsters tries to pry an answer from me.

“Miss, she’s awake. What are your orders?”

I could hear them talking through the door. A shrill, angry voice silenced the apparent subordinate.

“Did you not hear a single word of what I said before? I gave explicit orders to be the first, and maybe last person she’s seeing. For however long I wish to hold her alive.”

“Yes Miss. My apologies.”

“...and, for your information, it’s Lieutenant General Schnee, soldier.”

An audible gulp was heard. “Yes ma'am. At your service. I’ll be here if you need anything.”

Ah, it’s all starting to come back to me now. Right. This bitch. I’m going to play her good. If there’s any indication of her being desperate for validation, it’s the way she behaves around her own people. You can’t have a stick that far up your ass and have a happy, fulfilling personal life. Let’s see how far I can push her.

With a loud sliding and creaking sound, the cell door unlocked to reveal Weiss, clad in a brand new white and blue combat outfit. She shot me an icy glare that would have been intimidating, if it weren’t for the insecurity that crept past it through her body-language. Arms crossed, stiff as a board, steps drawn as if she were trying to rival Penny’s, inhumanly calculated and mechanical.

Her scowl grew a little more realistic when I presented her my best shit-eating grin. It was certainly going to be a fun, interesting meet.

Knowing the rules of her game, I kept my mouth shut and waited for her to begin her rant.

“Don’t look so smug Red. You will have very little to smile about once I’m done with you. I’m here to get answers, so, the sooner you’ll deliver, the higher your chances at actually getting out of this alive.

“Let’s begin with your name. I need your full name, forename and surname. Should be quite easy, don’t you think?”

She clicked her heels in place right in front of me.

“I’m sure you already know them. Or else you wouldn’t have been able to put me in this cell. It’s the law, if I recall it correctly” came my answer.

That did not win me any points, but it would speed up things. No reason to beat around the bush.

“You may be right. Doesn’t mean I can’t hear you say it in your pretty voice, though.”

She stepped on my leg. DAMN were her heels sharp. Yeah, definitely gonna leave a bruise. Crazy chick is into power play. What a day to be alive.

I bit my lip as to not give her the satisfaction to hear me groan in pain. She will have to work harder than that.

“I’m not going to repeat myself again. What’s. Your. Name?”

“Are you always this beautiful when you’re angry?”

That hit a nerve. Her eyes grew colder, her lips a thin line.

“Very funny. Let’s see how funny you’ll find this.”

Out of a pocket, she produced a taser. Oh dear. Brace for impac-

“GHNNNRNN” 

She stabbed me right in the side with it.

Defenseless and sprawled out on the floor, I didn’t dare to move, if not for my head; what I found when she was in view again, was a conflicted look and… guilt? So this wasn’t her true nature. She’d been taught to act tough. I’m in luck.

“If you want me to say it that bad… it’s Ruby.”

She perceived my confession as an act of pity. Regaining her composure, she stepped on my back with her heel… yet not with her full body weight, or extra added pressure, as a sadist would have done. She was soft. Only pressing enough to cause slight discomfort.

_Don’t make me do this. _

She conveyed through her eyes, if looks could talk.

I pretended to be a little more afraid, for her sake.

“Ruby Rose. And I’d appreciate it, if you could put your taser away. For the moment.”

That seemed to lift her mood.

“Very well. More willing to talk now, are we?”

I responded with a blank stare, praying that her questions wouldn’t be more invasive.

She hadn’t put back the taser just yet.

“Do you know what’s going to happen to you, Ruby Rose, if you don’t cooperate with law enforcement?”

“You’ll put me away in a _Lager_...”

“They’re called correctional facilities. I have no idea where people get the idea of concentration camps from. We are not that brutal. And just so you know, you’re already in one, right here.

“No, the place you’ll be taken to is far less _welcoming_. If you know that word, I’m sure you’re familiar with the ‘interrogation chambers’. No one ever gets out of those in one piece.”

I knew I was in deep shit, but she is actually, genuinely starting to scare me. Hopefully, this will work on her…

After contorting my face is half-fake horror, I put on my best puppy-eyes. Extra big and extra pleading.  
“I never meant for things to get this far. Will you please let me explain why I reacted the way I did when I saw you trample that woman?”

Her expression and stare softened even further.

“Explain It to me then. Why did you intervene? You still attacked me, verbally and physically, so I can’t oversee that. Your motivation might be the only point that could grant you mitigating circumstances.”

She was being honest. This was a great start. Time to reply to that honesty in kind.

“My… only remaining parent was killed that way. Trampled to death. Right in front of my eyes, and my sister’s. By Jacqueline Schnee. Your soon-to-be predecessor, I take…? Ich habe es nie richtig verkraftet (I was never really able to recover from it)”

It was a wild card, a risk I had to take, without revealing the sex of said parent, of course. Some Arume still hated men and saw nothing wrong with killing them brutally, even if it meant scarring innocent children. I’m trying to play an angle…

“Mother Jacqueline… Her demeanor is truly despicable and unforgivable, if what you’re saying holds any truth.”

“IT IS THE TRUTH!” I burst into tears, real tears now.

“I- I-I’m sorry. I can’t really forgive her for that. I wish I could. I wish I was as strong and good a person as my mom, but I simply can’t be. I tried, I tried so hard- I’m sorry mom… I really wanted to… if you can hear me from here-”

Playing broken had pushed the heiress over the edge. She probably didn’t know what to do in this situation. It was strange enough to see her show any kind of compassion… what happened next was unexpected.

Weiss tried to hug me as I cried, part true, part crocodile tears.

“No one deserves to go through that. If it means anything, I think I understand and… I forgive you. I can’t just let you go, unfortunately... When I looked you up on the GMB system, you didn’t appear within the results. Illegal GMBs are still a very punishable criminal offense. I can, however, pull a few strings to make sure you’re taken to a place that won’t leave you famished and mistreated. I’ll have to make you a suspect for terrorism and possible affiliate to this criminal organization that’s been lurking underground… do you know anything helpful about the Retribution, that could help me free you and take you under protective custody?”

I didn’t know what to think. Did she know more than she was letting on? Was she trying to trick me by beating me at my own game? Or was she genuine, and really this clueless? Ah, there was no way of telling. Maybe going for it would buy Blake and Yang some time to help me break out.

I’ll play it safe. Give her a lead, yet not too much to go on.

“I do know a little about it. The problem is, I’m not sure if it’s safe to talk here. The walls are very thin and I’m already afraid we might have been heard by other patrols outside. I will tell you what I know. But I can’t do it here.”

She went silent, pondering her options for a good minute.

“Alright. I can work with that. All I need you to do is act defiant once I call for the guard. Can you do that for me?”

I nodded, since she whispered that last bit.

“YOU DARE MOCK ME AND MY NAME WHILE UNDER ARREST?!! YOU EITHER HAVE A SCREW LOOSE OR YOU’RE ASKING FOR IT!! YOU FILTHY HUMAN!!! TELL YOU WHAT, I’LL TAKE YOU TO MAX-SECURITY AND WE’LL CRACK YOU OPEN ONE WAY OR ANOTHER!!! YOU CAN’T HIDE ANY SECRETS FROM ME!!! GUARDS!! PREPARE HER FOR A TRANSFER.”

Not a second later, they flung the door open and lifted me like a dead weight, hissing for me to get my legs moving.

“Where to ma’am? There’s 54 operational max-security cells aboard mother-ships Alpha-3, 4 and 7.

They are taking me to the Arume mother-ships? Oh sweet Oum. I need to tell Blake and Yang somehow. If I manage to woo this beautiful- I mean dumb Schnee, I could get a shot at sabotaging one of their most valued assets.

“Mother-ship Alpha-7. I want her where I can see her. Now, why is she still not wearing a bag over her head? I’m not letting her in on where she’s being taken and despite your masks and uniforms, there are Arume out there who don’t have their faces covered.

They soon corrected their incompetence by covering me with a black cloth. I pretend-whimpered as they dragged me away, unsure of my fate.


End file.
